Chapter 116
Zynie glanced toward the bathroom where Fay had gone in. It was so quiet that she figured Fay probably wouldn’t be coming out for a while.
[Do you know someone named Lynus?]
Since suddenly launching into a secret story would seem strange, she casually brought up Lynus’s name first. Alnazir shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
“He’s the emperor’s first child. They say he’ll be the next emperor, but quite a few imperial nobles actually oppose it.”
She couldn’t judge the exact numbers, but it seemed like the opposition wasn’t small. For one thing, the chancellor himself was actively trying to block Lynus from taking the throne.
The reason for the opposition wasn’t entirely clear, but judging from Lynus’s personality, Zynie guessed it was probably because he was arrogant, stubborn, and generally unpleasant.
“Thanks to that, the empire is practically on the verge of splitting apart right now. That’s good news for us.”
Zynie nodded but still frowned. To be honest, it wasn’t just the empire that was facing division.
Aldehallow’s situation was just as complicated.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there were people who said they’d surrender when it looked like we were going to lose.”
They had been ready to betray everyone back then, but now they were clamoring to come back. Saying things like this was their homeland after all and they couldn’t leave it behind.
Zynie snorted.
If their homeland meant that much to them, they should have worked together to protect it from the start. In her opinion, they should be kicked out and told to go live in the empire or wherever else they wanted.
She had assumed Virelda would be the one leading the charge to exile them. But Virelda had surprised everyone by choosing something else.
‘If we’re going to rebuild the city, having even one extra pair of hands will help.’
Zynie thought Virelda was a very strange witch.
She had a bad temper and argued with people constantly, but then suddenly she’d reach out and take their hand later.
Even with Fay—who had clearly kept her distance before—they were suddenly on good terms again, as if nothing had happened. Though in Fay’s case, it sometimes felt less like friendship and more like Virelda treating her as a convenient subordinate to give work to.
‘Thanks, Fay. I completely forgot about that matter—your reminder saved me.’
Still, she did say thank you to Fay from time to time.
“Honestly, it feels like Virelda is gentle with everyone else but only treats me badly.”
Zynie blew out an irritated breath.
“She even relies on me for help!”
Her insides boiled with frustration. People might say she was sulking like a child, but she couldn’t help it.
Zynie had grown up under Fay’s care, always receiving generous praise.
The more praise she got, the more motivated she became. Even she knew that being raised that way had made her a little arrogant sometimes, but that was fine.
If someone called her arrogant, she was strong enough to flatten them. The problem was that Virelda was the one person she couldn’t do that to.
“She’s authoritarian, petty, always glaring like she’s about to devour someone… and yet Virelda—ugh, she’s so irritating!”
She hated it so much, but what bothered her most was the fact that she couldn’t beat Virelda.
As she scrunched up her face in frustration, Alnazir—who had been silent until now—picked up the pen.
[If he’s the Emperor’s son, I think I’ve seen one.]
It had been when he tore out the imperial palace bathtub and carried it away. At that moment, he had run into a man entering the bathhouse while undressing.
The young man looked about Zynie’s age, still somewhat youthful.
The naked man froze in shock. Then the Emperor called out to him, telling him to stop the intruder, and that was when Alnazir realized he was the emperor’s son.
“How did he even manage to have children?”
At the time, Alnazir hadn’t cared enough to think about it. But now the thought crossed his mind out of curiosity.
These days, he had become quite interested in the concept of children. Still, that son’s name hadn’t been Lynus. It had been something like ‘Do–’ something…
He couldn’t remember.
Alnazir slowly shook his head. Even with Zynie sitting right in front of him, he only recognized her face because they met often. If someone asked him to say her name immediately, he probably couldn’t.
So there was no way he would remember the name of some human he had only passed once.
“It must have been Dorian!”
Zynie suddenly exclaimed, her face lighting up with excitement and surprise. The very person she had been planning to talk about in her secret story—she never expected Alnazir to know him.
Eagerly, she began scribbling in the notebook.
[There’s no one else that foolish except Dorian.]
Hearing that, Alnazir nodded uncertainly. Maybe that was right.
“He’s the youngest prince—the one who looks decent enough but acts like a complete idiot.”
The irritation that had filled Zynie’s face earlier disappeared as she talked about Dorian. She insisted that he wasn’t just foolish, he was a true fool.
“You know why people call him an idiot? Listen, mister.”
Zynie had become so absorbed in her story that she didn’t even realize her voice was loud enough to echo through the bathroom door as she hurriedly continued writing with her pen.
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